Over the past 20 years, peer-reviewed studies have indicated that interactive multimedia reports have the potential to improve the quality and value of radiologists' clinical work by enhancing the communication of their imaging findings, according to Dr. Cree Gaskin of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
"Despite this potential, radiologists and the consumers of our reports (i.e., referring providers and patients) are widely stuck with plain-text-only radiology reports," Gaskin told AuntMinnie.com. "This is due to limited market penetration of new technology that supports interactive multimedia reporting."
The researchers performed a retrospective review to determine if radiologists actually used these techniques after adopting the Vue reporting application (Carestream Health), which can include active hyperlinks for key image findings and also dictated text describing key findings that are linked to annotated images.
"We wanted to know if they saw enough value in the result (i.e., an interactive multimedia report) and ease of use in the new technique to electively adopt the technology, or if they would take the path of least resistance and stick with old habits of plain-text reporting," he said.
They found that radiologists commonly chose to create interactive multimedia reports, particularly for complex studies such as MRI, CT, and PET/CT. Gaskin noted, though, that the technique does require training and adoption takes time.
"Our radiologists found value in creating interactive multimedia reports, or they would not have bothered to electively change their reporting habits," he said. "Our specialty has the opportunity to migrate from plain-text-only reporting to more evolved interactive, multimedia reporting."
